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PlaneBusiness Banter Is Now Posted!

Hello everyone! While I still haven’t decided what to do with our PlaneBuzz blog, this week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter is just too ripe with goodies not to talk about. So if you are a subscriber, that is a good thing, if you are not, you need to be.

This week we take our in-depth look at the recent earnings reported by United Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and Alaska Air Group.

Or as I like to say, three of the big four, and the best managed, most financially stable airline in the U.S. Yes, that would be Alaska Airlines.

How much debt do you think Alaska is carrying on its balance sheet? Just take a guess. No, you’re way off.

A grand total of $750 million. The airline is not only a great airline for passengers, it’s not only one of the best in terms of operational performance, but it is a financial treasure — certainly worthy of investment grade status by the rating agencies. The problem the airline has? What is it going to do with its cash?

Nice problem to have.

As for the other three — they all made a lot of money in 2Q15. We will attempt to sort out the differences we see with what each airline reported.

We also run down the recent results from Lufthansa, IAG, parent of British Airways, and Ryanair.

Yes, everybody made money. That’s what happens when the price of oil is between $40 and $50 a barrel.

Oh, and yes, we have PlaneBusiness Earnings Summaries posted for all the remaining U.S. and Canadian airlines that have reported earnings as of today.

What also happens is that PRASM levels fall. And for whatever reason, airline investors (and some analysts) seem fixated on this — as though it is akin to the end of the world. It’s not. I wrote a column in PlaneBusiness Banter last week that took a longer look at this. We use the recent earnings results to follow-up this week.

I spent six days in Orlando last week between the Global Business Travel Association and the Women In TravelSummit, where I was honored to present onstage along with Delta Air Lines’ SVP of New York, Gail Grimmett, and Amex’s Global Business Travel’s Christine Ourmieres.

GBTA. What can I say? For those of you who are a member, and who attended the conference, you know what I mean. It is a grueling mix of business, parties, light lunches, more parties, and more business. I was fortunate to be asked to present on a panel there as well. I’ll be talking more about GBTA, the conference, and the organization’s political problems, in our next issue of PBB.

Oh, and what the hell happened to shares of Republic Holdings last week? We talk about that situation in-depth this week as well. That is not a good situation.

All this, and much, much, more in this week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter!